For the Kids
What I did not expect to see
is you, a broken legged newcomer, admonishing me
for trying to pick up a coloring menu and crayons
the numbers of which seem to abound
“No! Those are for the kids” you say
to me, at the end of a long ass day
of teaching
into whose minds I’m reaching
The kid’s
See I’m a 28 year old man
and you mighta just caught me with my hand
in the Crayolas
but look lady this day is ovah!
And, though in High School, some coloring went on
Not only to break up the day running long
But to color the maps of your empire’s spread
and bar graphs and pie charts to set in their heads
what your mega food chain economy could afford
but would rather not sacrifice a coin
not above board…
Yeah I am a teacher, I come here almost every Wednesday
I blow off steam a tried and true way:
spicy Mexican food, a margarita and coloring some page
imagine if I had to unleash all this damn rage
No, no I have found a reasonable release
I teach in the next county over, the one to the East
It might surprise you how much this occupation leads one to play
Me and my wife, interviewed simultaneously, hired the same day
Crusaders for larnin’
In a county of barns and --
motivational problems galore
Kids thinking only towards something more
and this year we introduced standardized scores
Tests they don’t care about
since college in their futures was always in doubt
I mean they don’t want another 4 years of school
though it’s my job to make it seem cool
In fact most achievement is an uphill battle in King George
Despite unsupportive administrators ahead we must forge
and don’t get me started on the parents
making the kids work the bushhogs so SOMEone makes rent
So between what I put up with and what I make happen in a town on the skids
You couldn’t imagine all I do, including this, is quite for the kids
Still, it’s your place, new manager at Tia’s
My wife and I will slink to our seats in a section attended by Mia
Who knows my face
sees us in her space
and gets me a coloring menu from the front of the place
and a full fist of crayons plopped down with grace.
Later you see me coloring and literally sneer
that such precociousness has made it’s way here.
“I told you those were for the kids” you came by to say
“I didn’t go get this, but someone decided I deserved a good day”
Obviously you don’t have more important things to do
because you hover over my dinner to grill me on just who
was so impertinent as to defy
your orders to deny
me a coloring page
Now it’s you edging on rage.
Stuffed, sated and happier with a colorful prize
I and my wife pay up and stand up and walk towards darkening skies
I return my handful of crayons to the basket
Seeing you by the door I mark the completed task with,
“Here, these are for the kids”
Our waitress nearby, hears and raises a fist and echos “For the kids!”
July 30, 2019